Tungsten-Molybdenum Ore Recovery from Molybdenum Sulfide Flotation Tailings

Tungsten and molybdenum are two non-renewable strategic mineral resources. Because of their unique properties, they are widely used in steel, military, aerospace, electronics, electrical appliances and chemical industries. With the development of social economy, the demand for tungsten and molybdenum is increasing, and the reserves of tungsten and molybdenum resources are decreasing sharply. However, there are a large number of poor, fine and miscellaneous refractory tungsten and molybdenum resources in our country. For refractory tungsten and molybdenum ores, especially for tungsten and molybdenum ores with high oxidation rate, no effective recovery method has been found.

In order to further explore the recovery of tungsten-molybdenum ore with high oxidation, some scholars have proposed a beneficiation method for recovering tungsten-molybdenum ore from flotation tailings of molybdenum sulfide. It includes the following steps:

(1)Tailings regrinding: the feed material is a flotation tailings of a molybdenum mine in Henan Province, containing 30.18% WO and 0.09% Mo, in which the oxidation rate of molybdenum is 70% and the fineness of tailings is 0.074mm 35.9%. The raw material is further refined, and the grinding fineness meets 0.074mm 75%.

(2)Desliming: The Slurry Treated by step (1) is desliming by gravity separation, and 4% of the fine sludge is removed by gravity sedimentation.

(3)Flotation of scheelite/molybdenum oxide ore: adding adjusting agent sodium carbonate 3000g/t to the tailings pulp after the above steps (2) to make the pulp pH value 9-10, then adding auxiliary inhibitor ferrous sulfate, inhibitor sodium silicate and chlorinated modified fatty acid collector. The three additives are 160g/t, 4000g/t and 800g/t, respectively. The scheelite/molybdenum oxide ore is recovered by flotation at room temperature. After one roughing, two sweeping and two concentrating, the scheelite/molybdenum oxide concentrate with WO₃ 7.49% and Mo 3.80% grade is obtained, WO₃+Mo>10%, and the recovery is WO₃ 65.80% and Mo 67.15%.

Compared with the prior art, the process has good recovery effect for the molybdenum sulfide flotation tailings of the easy-floating gangue minerals, and has the advantages of simple process flow, low production cost, and is particularly suitable for recovery from the molybdenum ore flotation tailings. Low-grade fine-grained white tungsten and molybdenum oxide ore are not only conducive to saving resources, but also important for alleviating the current tense situation of China's mineral resources.

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